Brave old world note:
The Times of Lomdon reports that "All rail maintenance will be effectively re-nationalised after Network Rail found that using private contractors was wasting hundreds of millions of pounds of public money"
Thursday, October 09, 2003
Schema vs. Stereotype
Q. A core thesis of your book is that we all have ideas of how men and women generally behave, and that these gender schemas can work against women's professional advancement. Why not just call these schemas stereotypes?
A. I prefer the term schema to stereotype because stereotype has such negative connotations, as though we shouldn't have these things In the first place. But we can't get along in the world without some conceptual framework, some generalizations about social groups and events. We need a way to predict what will happen, and to know how to behave appropriately in various situations. If you're a college student, you need a schema of what a professor is. A professor is supposed to show up for every class, be there on time, stay the whole period, be competent in the material, grade people fairly, and so forth. A student knows that you don't bribe your professor, that's not how things work. When we get to male and female schemas, well, then, we're all self-styled experts. You can take a person at random and list a bunch ,of adjectives "assertive," "has high leader ship ability," "is kind to children" and the person would have no trouble matching them up with one sex or the other.
SCIENCE DESK | August 25, 1998, Tuesday
A Conversation: With Virginia Valian; Exploring the Gender Gap and the Absence of Equality
By NATALIE ANGIER (NYT) Interview 2300 words
About: WHY SO SLOW? THE ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN (BOOK)
Q. A core thesis of your book is that we all have ideas of how men and women generally behave, and that these gender schemas can work against women's professional advancement. Why not just call these schemas stereotypes?
A. I prefer the term schema to stereotype because stereotype has such negative connotations, as though we shouldn't have these things In the first place. But we can't get along in the world without some conceptual framework, some generalizations about social groups and events. We need a way to predict what will happen, and to know how to behave appropriately in various situations. If you're a college student, you need a schema of what a professor is. A professor is supposed to show up for every class, be there on time, stay the whole period, be competent in the material, grade people fairly, and so forth. A student knows that you don't bribe your professor, that's not how things work. When we get to male and female schemas, well, then, we're all self-styled experts. You can take a person at random and list a bunch ,of adjectives "assertive," "has high leader ship ability," "is kind to children" and the person would have no trouble matching them up with one sex or the other.
SCIENCE DESK | August 25, 1998, Tuesday
A Conversation: With Virginia Valian; Exploring the Gender Gap and the Absence of Equality
By NATALIE ANGIER (NYT) Interview 2300 words
About: WHY SO SLOW? THE ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN (BOOK)
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